


Underneath, Your Blood is Blue

by TwoKidsInATrenchCoat



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Catra gets injured but I don’t really describe it, Constructive Criticism Welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25788817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoKidsInATrenchCoat/pseuds/TwoKidsInATrenchCoat
Summary: Catra gets injured during a mission in the Crimson Waste and needs a blood transfusion. Her friends can’t find a compatible donor, and all looks bleak until a certain shapeshifter offers to shift their blood to save Catra. But can Double Trouble save their friendship with her too?
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Catra & Double Trouble (She-Ra)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 78





	Underneath, Your Blood is Blue

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I stole the title from Mary Poppins.  
> 2\. I stole the concept from Young Justice.  
> 3\. Based on how I noticed that DT’s scratch changed from red to blue in Season 4, Episode 2.  
> 4\. Disclaimer: This probably isn’t medically accurate.

“This is stupid,” Catra thought to herself as she lifted the heavy lumber. She, Bow, and Entrapta were on a mission in the Crimson Waste. They were sent to help create more buildings there, due to the growing population.

Catra thought about how she would have to go back down so many stairs in order to just get some more lumber and go right back up.

She looked down the side of the building. With her claws, she didn’t think it would hurt if she scaled down the side of the building. After all, it might add a little fun to this tedious and boring day.

So she leapt down, but as she lept, she realized her mistake. The rocks and lumber of the Crimson Waste were very hard and smooth. They didn’t have any cevises for her to grip, so her claws slid off the material with an ear splitting screech. The last thing that she remembered was hearing her ribs crack when she hit the ground.

\---------------------------------------

When Bow had taken on the task of helping to build houses in the Crimson Waste, especially houses with multiple stories, he knew that something was bound to fall at least once. That’s why he had made sure that there was extra supplies, just in case a 2x4 was broken from being dropped by a resident who had overestimated their strength.

He had been preparing himself for the sound of something hitting the ground all day, but what he had not been prepared for was for a person to jump over the railing that had been installed, just to keep something like this from happening. Even less expected for that reckless person to be one of his teammates.

Bow didn’t even get the chance to try to catch her. His back had been turned, but once he heard that _crack_ he swung around and immediately ran over to her.

“Catra!” he yelled. His yell caught Entrapta’s attention, who was by his side soon after with a medical kit. Their friend had been knocked unconscious upon impact, but some of the sharp rocks had cut her skin and she was bleeding very rapidly.

They took her inside Darla and Bow worked to stop the bleeding while Entrapta looked her over. “She lost a lot of blood,” she told Bow, “I think she’s going to need a blood transfusion.”

“Alright, what’s her blood type?”

“That’s just it. Catra’s blood is unique to her species. Her body will reject any other type of blood,” Entrapta said, wringing her hands.

So Bow and Entrapta went all over the Crimson Waste, looking for somebody of Catra’s species but they couldn’t find another person like her. They came back to the ship empty handed. Despair was beginning to overwhelm them when they heard a voice behind them.

“Well, well, well. She’s not looking too good.”

The pair swung around to see a familiar green shapeshifter observing the ship nonchalantly.

Bow glared at them, “Oh it’s you. What do you want?”

“Hi Double Trouble!” Entrapta greeted chipperly.

“I want, to offer my services. I believe that they could be of use to you two.”

Bow scoffed, “You’ll have to excuse me, but I don’t see how a mercenary would help in this situation.”

“You’re excused,” Double Trouble said to Bow. They turned to Entrapta, “I know that you have never been one to not see all the potential uses of something. Performance may be my specialty, but you’d have to be narrow minded to not see all of its uses.”

Entrapta looked intrigued, “Alright?”

“You see, when I transform, I don’t just physically change on the outside. I change every tissue muscle, every blood vein-”

Entrapta gasped in delight, “You can change on the cellular level! You could help Catra!”

DT was clearly annoyed at having been interrupted, but let it go, “Essentially.”

“What’s the catch?” Bow asked.

DT looked caught off guard, “Catch?”

“I’ve been told that, with you, there’s always a price.”

Double Trouble quickly resumed their carefree demeanor. “Consider it a feebee,” they laughed, “for your friends helping me escape the Enchanted Grotto when Scorpia had so rudely incapacitated me.”

Bow looked back and forth between Double Trouble and Catra. He knew they couldn’t waste any more time arguing.

“Do what you need to do,” he told them.

DT shifted into Catra and held out their arm for Entrapta to draw blood.

Once Entrapta had enough blood DT shifted back and looked very woozy. Entrapta wrapped their arm as quickly as she could, while already preparing the blood with her hair. DT looked impressed at her efficiency.

Bow then directed the lightheaded shapeshifter to a different room where they could sit down. He got them both some food and water, “Here, this’ll help you get your strength back.”

DT seemed surprised to be receiving these items, but wordlessly accepted them. Bow wasn’t sure what to make of that, and instead chose to sit down and drink some water.

Now that things had calmed down, Bow so he looked over at DT, wanting to ask questions, but they asked first.

“So why didn’t you guys just call She-Ra to come over and do her glowy healing magic?”

“Adora is on Beast Island right now. None of the communication pads would be able to reach her.”

DT nodded and drank some more water.

“Alright, let me ask you a question. Why did you really help Catra? I don’t know you too well, but you always have a goal in mind.”

DT opened their mouth to probably give some sort of evasive answer, but they were interrupted when Entrapta came back through the door. “Guys! Great news. The blood transfusion was a success and Catra is going to be fine. She just needs to rest.”

DT seemed to physically relax at this news, like there was some tension in their body that had just been dissipated.

Bow raised an eyebrow at them. Developing a good guess as to why DT decided to help them.

DT flushed, “Shut up.”.

\---------------------------------------

Catra woke up with a splitting headache. It was only made worse when her memories came flooding back to her. Did she seriously lose her footing? How could she be so dumb?

“Catra! You’re awake!” Entrapta said just a bit too loudly.

Catra hissed in displeasure.

“Oh, sorry. I’ll be quieter,” Entrapta apologized while handing Catra some water which did help to quell her headache, “Anyway, Bow is sleeping right now and-”

“What happened?” Catra asked hoping that she hadn’t truly done what she thought she had.

“You fell off the structure that we were building. You were hurt and needed a blood transfusion. It was very scary.”

So she had been that dumb. Catra sighed and settled back into her bed, but then something occurred to her. She had never bothered to learn much about her species, but she recalled that Shadow Weaver once warned her that her species’ blood was incompatible with any other even remotely similar species. So if she got hurt and lost a lot of blood, they wouldn’t be able to save her. Needless to say, Catra didn’t listen, although she was surprised that it took this long for it to come back to bite her.

“Where did you manage to find a doner?”

A voice from the entryway piped up and a chill ran down Catra’s spine at the far too familiar sound, “Well, it’s less that they found me and more that I found them.” She immediately turned to glare at its source.

“It was pretty hard to miss those two running around, trying to find someone of your species,” Double Trouble continued as if they were perfectly welcome in the room.

They transformed back and forth into Bow and Entrapta, and did a (probably) over exaggerated impression of them desperately searching for a doner.

Catra had to resist the urge to laugh, but it quickly faded and she stopped paying attention when a thought occurred to her.

“Why would you do that though?” Catra snapped.

DT, as Bow, looked annoyed at having been interrupted, but shifted back to their original form.

Entrapta looked back and forth between the two of them, “I think, I’ll uhh just leave you two alone for now,” and not-too-gracefully ran out the door nearly tripping over her own feet and hair.

“Classy exit,” DT muttered.

Catra laughed, but as soon as she saw DT’s pleased smile at having made her happy, she fought it back and put on her most serious face.

“Why are you here? What do you want?”

“Well, answering your questions in order, Kitten, I’m here in the Crimson Waste because I can be. As for what I want,” DT smiled, “I wanted to get even.”

Catra was alarmed, “What?”

“Yes, during the whole Enchanted Grotto debacle, I was so rudely paralized by Scorpia, but they got me out of there. I was in dept, but now I think I can safely say that I’ve paid my dues.”

“Oh,” Catra said, not sure how to respond. She had heard about Mermista, Perfuma, Sea Hawk, and Scorpia finding Double Trouble in the Enchanted Grotto, but she tried to not listen once the shapeshifter’s name was brought up.

DT cocked their head to the side in confusion, “That’s it? I would have expected you to have told me to go away twice by now, but you haven’t even thrown one thing. Should I go get Entrapta to see if you really are feeling okay?”

Catra was thinking about living up to DT’s expectations, but that last sentence caught her off guard, “Wait. Why would you offer to go get Entrapta? Come to think of it, why are you still here? Why didn’t you run off as soon as you gave the blood?”

DT clicked their tongue in distaste, “Now, now, Kitten. There’s no need to get all huffy about it. I stuck around, because giving blood makes you woozy and being woozy in the Crimson Waste is never a good idea.” DT gestured to their forearm where the blood had been taken from and was clearly wrapped by Entrapta due to the cute little bow on the top.

“Alright, but you’re fine now. So why aren’t you gone?”

“Well, I thought that you and I might want to chat, catch up. It has been so long.” DT began to sit down on the edge of her bed, but Catra shoved them off.

“What the hell!” Catra whisper-yelled, still aware of the fact that it was night.

DT huffed, and got up, now feeling like they should be the one asking that question. “And what do you mean by that, Kitten?”

“Why do you think that you can just come back here and pretend like nothing is wrong?!” she asked, trying to hide the hurt in her voice.

DT sighed through their nose, “What? Are you still mad about _that_? I told you it was nothing personal.”

“Well it was very personal to me!”

DT shrugged, “I had to dig deep or else you wouldn’t hear my words.”

Catra wanted to deny that statement. She wanted to tell them that it hadn’t been necessary to have given her that speech. But secretly, though she loathed to admit it, she knew that if Double Trouble hadn’t torn her down, she wouldn’t have been able to build herself back up again. So instead she sighed, “I hate you.”

DT rolled their eyes, but Catra could have sworn that she saw a glint of hurt in them.

“Well I better be going then. I can tell when my company isn’t wanted.”

Catra watched them walk towards the exit. She knew that once they crossed that threshold, she probably would never see them again. They’d take on another form and she’d be none the wiser. She’d never get another chance to joke or laugh with them again. They might not have seen her as a friend, but she had and she couldn’t bring herself to just give it up.

“Wait,” she said, not meaning to sound as pitiful as she did.

DT stopped right at the doorway. They looked over their shoulder, “Yes?”

“I-I’m not tired. I wouldn’t mind talking.”

She was actually tired, but DT didn’t need to know that.

Double Trouble clapped their hands together in delight, “Wonderful! Just talking between two people, who have no relation whatsoever.”

Catra couldn’t help but laugh, “Exactly. So tell me, stranger, what have you been up to since you left the Horde?”

DT sat back at her bedside, “Oh, well I did a lot of exploring.”

They talked about trying to join Horde Prime, but after realizing that that could only end in disaster, they left.

“I’m surprised that you managed to sneak around in that place.” Catra recalled with a shutter, how hive-like it was. It was truly a feat to have been able to pretend to be connected while being completely out of the loop. When she said as much, she automatically regretted it.

“Oh, why thank you! I’m glad to see that my talents have not gone unnoticed!”

Catra rolled her eyes.

“Although, if I’m being entirely honest,” DT admitted, “There were one or two times where I may or may not have had to knock a soldier out if they got too nosey.”

Catra was intrigued. “How did you manage to do that? Those soldiers are more metal than flesh.”

“It’s pretty simple. Just turn into one of Entrapta’s fancy bots and give them a good kick. You know you did it right if you hear the ribs crack.”

Catra laughed, “Whoa! What other damage can you inflict with that form?”

“Weeellllll, I had to be discreet when I was knocking people unconscious. But I wouldn’t mind testing my capabilities. For science of course,” the shapeshifter got up off the bed and extended their hand in silent invitation.

Catra was tempted to get up and go with DT to rein destruction, but she stopped herself. What was she doing? Didn’t she learn her lesson from last time? “Maybe some other time.”

DT looked disappointed but kept going, “Well alright. Anywho, you already know about Peakablue going missing and my fantastic impression of him. After that I did a bit of fighting for the rebellion against Horde Prime. Then I eventually came back to the Crimson Waste once everything else got boring.”

“Never a dull moment in the Crimson Waste,” Catra commented.

“Of course, for example, just yesterday, a kitten tried to scale down the side of a building and ended up needing a blood transfusion!”

“Shut up!” Catra gave them a shove, but it was weak since her health was still being restored.

“So what about you?” DT asked leaning forward with a teasing smile, “I hear that you have a new girlfriend.”

Catra knew where this was going, but still tried to avoid it, “Yeah. I do.”

“Well, tell me what happened,” DT instsited, “because if I remember correctly, my audition was _literally_ to turn into you and fight her.”

“Well, things have changed. She saved me from Horde Prime and we started rebuilding our relationship from there.”

“Ohhh. I do love a good damsel in distress story. So tell me, was it grandiloquent?”

“I don’t even know what that-”

“Was there a dramatic kiss?” DT clarified.

“No! I was unconscious during the rescue. That would have been creepy.”

“Eh, true.”

“We didn’t even end up together until the battle between Horde Prime and Etheria,” Catra told them.

“And?” DT pressed, having a feeling that there was more to the story.

“And Adora was about to be dumb again and about to do something that would get her killed.”

“And?”

“I stopped her by confessing that I love her.”

“And?”

“And there was a dramatic kiss,” Catra finally admitted.

DT cackled and Catra huffed, but the shapeshifter’s laughter was contagious and it was hard not to crack a small smile.

“Bravo, bravo!” they clapped their hands in applause, “I knew there would be a spectacle between you two.”

“What made you so sure?”

“When I was figuring out both of your characters I realized that you two are very stubborn. Only something that was threatening one or both of your lives would be able to force you two to confess.” Catra couldn’t help but fully laugh, if only because she knew that it was true, although she didn’t think that she could ever bring herself to admit it to anybody else.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while and Catra suddenly felt sleepy again. She yawned.

“Aww. Don’t tell me you’re falling asleep on me, Kitten.”

“No, I’m-,” Catra was cut off by another yawn. Suddenly all of her exhaustion was catching up to her at once.

“Just let me lay down for a moment and then we can keep on talking.”

Catra layed down and sleep immediately came for her. As she began to drift off, she vaguely recalled a blanket being gently draped over her, and it was probably her imagination, but she could have sworn she heard, “Sweet dreams, Kitten,” before fully drifting into unconsciousness.

\---------------------------------------

Catra was in the middle of preparing for the ship’s flight back to Bright Moon when Bow held out an envelope to her.

“What’s this?” 

“It’s a letter for you from Double Trouble.”

“What does it say?” Catra asked, knowing that she probably sounded desperate.

“I don’t know. It’s not for me, so I didn’t open it.”

Catra snatched it from him and went into another room to read it in privacy.

_Hey there Kitten,_

_As much as it pains me to write this, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything that I said to you. For how I made you feel. I know that you probably won’t forgive me, but I still wanted you to know._

_When I left, I found myself incredibly bored. I must admit that when I was working with you, there was never a dull moment. So if a slot for another friend ever opens up with you, just know that I would be happy to fill it._

_If our paths cross again, I won’t disguise myself around you anymore (unless that would end up endangering our lives, of course)._

_Your potential friend,_

_Double Trouble_

Catra looked out the ship’s window, at all the people milling around the Crimson Waste. Some were watching the ship, but a lot of others just went about their business like a spaceship was an everyday occurrence.

Catra wondered if Double Trouble was among them in a different form. She would have no way of knowing. But then something in the letter came to mind: “I won’t disguise myself around you anymore.”

The ship rose into the sky and Catra saw a familiar figure on a nearby rooftop. Double Trouble gave her a tentative wave. She returned it, hoping to convey that she was willing to leave the past in the past if they were too.

The ship ascended further and DT soon became a small dot in the distance. But Catra was already planning her next visit to the Crimson Waste. After all, she never did find out how much damage one could do as one of Entrapta’s bots. How could one pass up the opportunity to learn the answer?

  
  



End file.
